5-23-08
Live Bait Will Be New Artistic Home
It’s official. Live Bait’s theatre is going to be the Artistic Home. The final agreement between the two theatre companies was signed last week. It gives Artistic Home a three-year lease of the space at 3914 N. Clark, including the offices above the Bucket studio space, and part of the basement. Live Bait, in the form or Sharon Evans and John Ragir, will move their offices to above the mainstage, next door to the old offices.
Evans and Ragir own the building. The original idea when they decided to stop producing theatre was to sell. But the sagging real estate market gave them pause, and Chicago gets to keep a great theatre space because of it—at least for the next three years. After that, according to Artistic Home artistic director Cathy Scambiatterra, Artistic Home as the right of first refusal to buy the place, should Evans and Ragir want to sell.
“I would love to buy the building,” said Scambiatterra. “It would be great if in three years Artistic Home was in the position to buy the building.”
For now, Scambiatterra and her producing partner/husband John Mossman, have smaller goals. Like getting back to a three-show season, which has been suspended for a year as they’ve been searching for spaces. Scambiatterra and Mossman have nearly moved into two different spaces—one north of the city and one in Pilsen—which eventually fell through. They’re also doing their first subscription series.
The Live Bait mainstage represents a doubling of the 30 seats Artistic Home had in their last space at 1420 W. Irving Park, which gives them the opportunity to work on audience development. In the past, Artistic Home shows have regularly extended to cover audience demand, but they could only extend for so long.
Scambiatterra is also excited that classes don’t have to share a space anymore with the mainstage. Artistic Home’s classes will be taught in the Bucket, which will also house workshop productions from those classes.
“What we were looking to build in another space, Live Bait has right there,” said Scambiatterra.
Live Bait, for it’s part, won’t stop producing entirely. Evans and Ragir just won’t have to take care of a building and a season. Evans put in a proposal to expand their Police Teen Link series. And she has talked with Lifeline’s Dorothy Milne about co-producing future Fillet of Solos.
Milne, whose solo group, The Sweat Girls, has performed at Fillet of Solo many times, confirmed that Lifeline will likely host the event, either entirely or as part of a multi-space festival in 2009. Milne hopes to use Live Bait’s interest to build out a studio theatre in their upstairs rehearsal hall. But she doesn’t know if that will be ready by next summer.
“We’re hoping that will be in ’09, but if it can’t be in ’09, then we’ll be involved [in Fillet of Solo] in a multi-theatre way,” said Milne.
Evans said she approached Lifeline not only because of Milne’s solo work, but also because of Lifeline’s dedication to new work in general.
“They kind of ‘get’ the festival,” said Evans.
She also was conscious of getting out of Artistic Home’s way.
“Because Artistic Home is going to be our tenant, I didn’t want to create a relationship that was beyond our relationship,” said Evans. “I wanted to give them their space. I didn’t want to be hovering.”
Evans and Ragir won’t be hovering, but they will be working. They are going to clean out and organize the basement, which is filled with 20 years of sets and props and costumes. They are also embarking on an archival journey, in cooperation with the Chicago Public Library’s theatre archives. And Evans wants to get back to playwriting.
Right now, The Artistic Home has rented the Live Bait space for their production of Juno and the Paycock, which opened May 18 and runs through the end of June. Then Live Bait will take over the space one last time for the 2008 Fillet of Solo Festival, which runs July 11 – Aug. 16.
“I wanted too do a paired down Fillet of Solo, but I just got so many good proposals,” said Evans. The festival includes the return of Tekki Lomnicki’s Tellin’ Tales Theatre, as well as the return of BoyGirlBoyGirl and The Sweat Girls.
Live Bait has taken on many identities in the past 20 years. Early on, they were known for bawdy, out-there shows, like Evans’ Girls! Girls! Girls! Live Onstage! Totally Rude! Then they were known for late-night offerings, where shows like Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind and Late Nite Catechism were launched. It was also the place at that time for late-night improvisers. Then Evans started writing more literary work, like Freud, Dora and the Wolfman and Momento Mori. Now they’re known for their solo work, and their community outreach.
“I think organizations are at their best when they keep changing,” said Evans.